Am I the only one here who's read "Maurice Fogel - In Search of the Sensational"?

I agree that Marvin Kaye's book is underrated and in my opinion Prism is overrated - but then I don't do "mental magic".

My top four would be:

13 steps
Practical Mental Effects
Mind, Myth and Magick
Mind Reading (Knepper)

I'm struggling with the fifth. It could be Kaye, the Fogel book, Act Two, Tarbell... If you count E-books it would be Switchcraft.

I'll say all of Karl Fulves's Dover books.

Barry

Barry,

Thank you so much for recommending Switchcraft. I appreciate it very much.

Elliott

Yeah, but Switchcraft isn't a book, any more than the Tarbell Course is "a" book. Switchcraft is in competition for Best Mentalism Encyclopedia Set.

*jeep!
--Grandpa Chet

Sigma - Paolo Cavalli

The Safwan Papers - Bryn Reynolds

Switchcraft - Elliott Bresler

Paramiracles - Ted Lesley

13 Steps - Corinda

An HONOR, but nahhh... (perhaps if the list was of the YEAR,,,perhaps....)
Thanks, Mike, but I will respectfully disagree. SOme of your other choices are great reads, though!)

Top 5 of ALL TIME?
I'll have to give this some thought and chime back in soon.
Like most, I doubt if I can narrow it down that much.

Bryn

Here is mine for your consideration:

Sensational Mentalism Books - Robert Nelson/ This was my first taste of mentalism when I was a kid ordering tricks from the Tannen's mail order dept. Those books had an impact on me.

Mind, Myth and Magick -Waters/ Can I say anymore?

Mind Reading- KK/ There is a lot of material in here that many of the " shut eyes " use in there work. Kenton has done his homework. Also, EE's reading presentation is excellent, a new approach IMHO and I use a modified version of this in my work.

Divine Intuition - Lynn A. Robinson / No, this isn't a book on mentalism but in my work doing readings..the book is a Godsend of information and quotes and soundbytes and just common sense info. Lynn is a reader from the Boston area ( maybe TonyEye knows her ), and she knows her subject inside and out. Invaluable!!

Stunner's Plus - Larry Becker/ Lot's of ingenious methods and routines in this book. This book leans more on " Mental Magic " rather then old-school mentalism but when I doing performance mentalism, I used a lot of the material.

I guess those are my top five but I have to say that I read a lot of spiritual type of books and these books bring some sense of contentment in my life. Some of these books are Ask and It Is Given, Conversations with God, Illusions, The Seth Material, The Secret, The Divine Matrix, The Artist's Way, Dr. Wayne Dyer's books, 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself and many others.

Rick~

13 Steps by Corrinda (How could anyone leave this out)
The Alchemical Tools by Paul Brook
Mind, Myth & Magick by T A Waters
Stunners Plus by Larry Becker
Psychological Subtleties 1-2 by Banachek (I can't believe I lost my PS Volume 1. NO!!!)


That sums it up for me.

I've grouped a couple of books together in order to keep it a top five list.

As of right now (changes with the weather)

Artful Mentalism of Bob Cassidy + Cassidy's Fundamentals
Richard Osterlind's Trilogy + Mystique
Theatre of the Mind I & II (Specifically II)
Perception is Everything + Psi-Kicks
Paramiracles

Honorable Mention:
Stunners, Plus!, Peek Encores

13 steps by Corinda
The Jinx by Annemann
Theater of the mind (both books) by Richardson
Handbook of mental magic by Kaye
Prism by Max Mavin

13 Steps
Practical Mental Effets
Mind, Myth, and Magick
Theater of the Mind I
Theater of the Mind II